


Maybe He Really Has Changed

by KnightA3



Category: Xiaolin Showdown (Cartoon)
Genre: Gen, Series of Oneshots
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-18
Updated: 2015-09-18
Packaged: 2018-04-21 08:06:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,958
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4821605
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KnightA3/pseuds/KnightA3
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Now that Raimundo is the leader, he seems to be acting a little different. Why?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. No Need To Thank Me

"Mongoose climbing stairs!" The short young monk cried out. Immediately after, he delivered a punch to the training dummy, and leaped higher to kick the top of it where a head would have been if it had one.

Meanwhile, Raimundo Pedrosa watched Omi demolish the defenseless dummy. After the dummy was nothing but a splintered piece of wood scattered about the training grounds, Raimundo approached his teammate. Omi watched as the team leader neared him, noting his red robes and blue Wudai sash in contrast to Raimundo's alternating red and black robes with a golden-yellow sash. The Xiaolin Dragon of Water would be lying if he admitted that he wasn't the least bit upset that he wasn't chosen to be the first to advance to Shoku Warrior and be the team leader.

"Omi," The Brazilian Xiaolin Dragon of Wind called. Then, regarding Omi's training, he continued, "I've been wondering, why do you yell out the attack you're going to do?"

Omi raised a brow at the absurdity of the question, taking a moment to decide if Raimundo was serious. When it was clear the Brazilian was serious, he answered slowly, "Because it is the attack I am going to go."

Raimundo bluntly said, "I know that, but you announce your move to the enemy—if they somehow know what you're talking about. Why don't you just not say them?"

"That would be dishonorable!" Omi cried, aghast.

Raimundo froze and echoed, "Dishonorable?"

"Yes, dishonorable," Omi confirmed.

"Are you calling the rest of us dishonorable?" Raimundo folded his arms across his chest, somewhat annoyed that Omi would suggest such a thing, though it was exactly what Omi and his big ego would do.

"Oh, no," Omi assured him, raising his hand to calm the older monk. "You are not always dishonorable, just irresponsible."

There was a brief moment of silence as Raimundo processed Omi's words, then processed them again, his annoyance growing a notch each time he processed it. When he'd mentally rechecked them multiple times in the split-second it required, certain that's what the little bald one meant, he exclaimed, "Irresponsible?! I'd like to see you—"

Omi interrupted and smugly spoke, "Yes, irresponsible. But do not fear, Raimundo my friend, for I will teach you, Clay, and Kimiko, proper responsibility." He paused to let his stunning words of encouragement sink in before adding, "No need to thank me."

Raimundo's eye twitched as annoyance gave way to frustration. Instead of letting the pent-up emotions release themselves all over Omi's egotistical behind, he took a large breath and let them out in the fashion that Master Fung had taught them— well, taught mostly to Kimiko to help her control her anger.

"Whatever. I have chores to do anyway," he calmly responded. It was his turn to do the dishes and he was far from looking forward to it. No matter how much he'd love to use the Shroud of Shadows to simply make the dishes vanish, he was making an effort to be more responsible—he'd never gotten away with hiding his chores anyway, the Fung-man always saw through his ingenious façade.

Omi was clearly surprised, his jaw was dropped low as he said in disbelief, "You? Do Chores?"

Raimundo forced a sarcastic laugh as he turned around and headed inside for his dreaded chores, "Ha, ha, very funny."

"But I was not joking," he said aloud, though Raimundo was now inside and could not hear. Alone on the training grounds, still standing next to the splintered remains of his training dummy, Omi mused silently to himself, "Maybe he really has changed."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This started out as a short oneshot I posted on fanfiction based off a little comic I drew. There was no beta reading and it's a little old. So, be aware of that.


	2. So Stop Flying Solo, Idiot

Raimundo Pedrosa, Xiaolin Dragon of Wind(in training), mechanically washed the dishes and placed them into a stack of dishes he'd already washed. Though he hated the job and was extremely bored, he was making an effort to be more responsible now that he was a Shoku Warrior and leader of his team. As much as he would have liked to use the Shroud of Shadows to simply make the dishes seem to magically disappear, he knew it wasn't worth it. Master Fung seemed to have a knack for finding out Raimundo was avoiding his chores.

Just before coming in to do his god-forsaken chores, Omi had a hard time believing Raimundo was actually going to do them. No doubt he was spying on the Brazilian, watching in shock as the usually slacker-Raimundo was really doing the work.

Sure enough, Raimundo heard the nearly silent pitter-patter of Omi's small feet running away, presumably to alert Clay and Kimiko that something was wrong with their leader. Within minutes, he heard the quiet footsteps returning with a single partner that, judging by the sound, was too light to be Clay.

Placing another dish on the stack, he sighed. The Dragon of Water (in training) didn't seem to want to believe that Raimundo was putting forth a renewed effort to prove that making him leader was a good choice. It would seem that the Dragon of Fire(in training) wasn't entire sure herself.

"Are you guys here to gawk the entire time?" Raimundo asked with a flat tone, picking up another wet dish and scrubbing it down.

He didn't have to look to know that Kimiko was approaching. She no longer made any effort to silence her footsteps and the footfalls were too far between to belong to Omi's short legs. The shorter monk was either escaping in the cover of Kimiko's steps, or was still standing just outside the doorway out of side.

"I'm not gawking, I'm here to help," the Japanese girl responded, picking up a dish and beginning to scrub alongside him.

He appreciated the sentiment, but had to ask, "Why? You already did your chores and it's my turn to do the dishes."

"Because I want to."

"You don't have to. I'm not going to leave them here all dirty. We'd just had to deal with Clay's crusty week-old leftovers all over the plates." He scrubbed vigorously at the crusty week-old leftovers in question, which even Omi would agree put up a valiant effort to remain in place.

She punched his arm, not hard enough to hurt but not light enough to come across as playful. "You don't have to be so macho. You might be the leader now, but you still don't have to do everything alone."

He brought his battle with the crusty left-overs to a halt, taking in Kimiko's words. She was right. After becoming a Shoku Warrior, he'd done a lot of studies and training alone, convinced that he needed to live up to the expectations that he was positive surrounded him. He still went Shen-Gon-Wu hunting with the others, but he'd been isolating himself lately in his attempt to avoid disappointing anyone. In the process, his friends must have thought his stubborn pride was pushing them away.

He returned his attention to the dishes in front of him, though less intently than before, and murmured, "I see."

There was a brief moment of silence before Kimiko spoke softly, "You could become a better leader by training with your team."

The message was clear and already in Raimundo's mind. There was no leader without the team. So stop flying solo, idiot.

Raimundo set down the dish, the battle of the crusty plate finally coming to an end, and said, "How about now?"

Blinking in surprise, Kimiko was hardly able to believe that he had gotten over his stubborn pride so quickly. However, she was unaware that he was only trying too hard to be what he was the entire time. She asked, "What about the dishes, they're not all clean yet."

Raimundo was already waiting by the door next to Omi, a familiar grin on the Brazilian's face. "They'll be here when I get back. Team-building first, sanitary surfaces to eat off of second."

The laugh escaped Kimiko as she followed him out the doorway and said, "That's the Rai we all know and love!"

As they charged to retrieve the final member of the team, the Dragon of Earth (in training), Kimiko thought to herself, "Maybe he really has changed."


	3. You Wanna Know Why?

Clad with his usual cowboy boots, carrying his usual Texas-sized sandwhich, Clay Bailey took his time getting to what he called his room. It wasn't so much as a room as a stall, three others of identical size next to his. There really wasn't very much room, and privacy was a fragile privilege with only a curtain to separate their "rooms" from the hall.

The team training session that Raimundo suggested had been sudden and unexpected, but it's exactly what the other three monks wanted out of their leader. The usually laid-back Dragon of Wind had been working himself to exhaustion most nights since advancing to Shoku Warrior, and the abnormal behavior of their leader worried them. If it was Omi working himself to the bone, it wouldn't have been a big deal since that's what the Dragon of Water usually did anyway. But the fact remained that it was Raimundo, and not the short monk, that was acting unusually out of character.

"Yo, Clay! Would you quit dripping?"

The Dragon of Earth turned toward the slightly irritated Brazilian's voice, surprised to see him scrubbing the stone tiles of the floor to finish up his chores. Upon further inspection, Clay found a trail of barbeque sauce that originated from the very large sandwich in his hands that Raimundo was cleaning.

"I'm sorry 'bout that, Rai. I'll be happy to clean it for you," Clay offered, the Texan accent dripping from his voice as heavily as the barbeque sauce just before shoving the rest of the sandwich in his mouth. He bent down, picked up a brush, and began scrubbing alongside his friend.

Old slacker-Raimundo would have gladly left all the work to gentleman-Clay, while he would have refused the help just earlier that day. Since Kimiko had talked some sense into him already, he didn't object.

"How long have you been scrubbin' this here floor?" Clay asked.

Raimundo continued the chore as he looked at Clay and replied, "Not long, maybe five minutes."

"Ain't you usually skating with them brushes on your feet?" The Texan used two fingers to mimic skating with his hand.

"I was, but it wouldn't get your mess off the floor." He pointed at the trail of barbeque sauce to clarify that he didn't mean the dirt from the cowboy's boots.

Instead of responding to the comment, Clay changed the subject, "You've been working mighty hard lately."

Raimundo paused and groaned, "Oh, come on. Can't a guy change without everyone questioning him?" First Omi didn't believe he would work, then Kimiko told him he shouldn't work alone, and now Clay was starting this conversation.

"Just hear a guy out, partner. I'm just sayin' that you don't have to work like a pack mule runnin' uphill from my Auntie Gertrude."

The blank look Raimundo sent back told Clay that the metaphor whizzed over the top of his head and into oblivion. His thoughts were confirmed when the Shoku Warrior replied, "That meant diddly squat to me. Could you try speaking a language people can actually understand?"

Clay sighed and tried again, "There's no need for you to work yourself to death."

"Now that I can understand," Raimundo approved. The advice hadn't been at all necessary, since Kimiko had already given him similar advice as he washed dishes. The Shoku Warrior continued, "Kimiko already gave me the bit about working as a team. I don't need it twice."

"Maybe you do. You wanna know why?"

Raimundo started, positive that being told once was enough, "I really don't think I need—"

Clay interrupted him by saying, "Because maybe you really have changed."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N I've been told that doing one of these involving Clay wouldn't be necessary, but I just don't want to leave him out. It might not be as good as the other two, but Clay deserves a turn in one of these.


End file.
